AFL great Dale Thomas reveals the drastic step he took to control his weight gain after retirement
Soccer star Dale Thomas reveals the drastic step he took to control his weight after he became ‘the butt of a joke’ when he piled on it after he walked out on a game
- Retired in the covid pandemic
- piled on kilograms
- I found a dramatic way to lose them
Former AFL thriller Dale Thomas admits he was ‘eating his feelings’ during the Covid pandemic and had to look for a radical remedy to stop the rapid weight gain in his post-retirement life.
The 35-year-old retired in 2019 after 258 AFL games for Carlton and Collingwood – caught up to the peak of the Covid pandemic and associated lockdowns.
The sudden stop to apprenticeships and the enforced inactivity of the Covid lockdowns saw Thomas pile on 13kg – and his colleagues told him all about it.
‘Yeah, I was glad to get a few jokes,’ he said, ‘but it will get to you in the end.’ Channel Seven.
“No matter how hard I worked, he never seemed to hold back.”
Thomas celebrates his partner Natasha Bongiorno’s birthday with a McDonald’s feed. He suffered from being overweight during the epidemic
The combination of retiring from the AFL and heading into Covid lockdowns means the former Collingwood and Carlton star is packed with weight
Thomas revealed that he “really hated” the footy in the years leading up to his retirement when he appeared on I’m A Celebrity Get Me Out of Here in 2020.
The former Magpies and Blues star consulted medical professionals who recommended a ‘metabolic reset’ which involved a once-a-day injection as part of a customized weight loss programme.
His medication consists of a hormone already produced in his intestines that slows the rate at which his stomach empties, making him feel fuller for longer.
The injections also affect the reward center in the brain in order to combat food cravings, and reduce the weight your body is naturally trying to maintain.
Since making the dramatic move, Thomas has lost 10kg and has returned to his original playing weight.
Genes play a huge role in weight loss and it’s something I never really understood. Doing professional sports for so long, he said, you just have to expect that if you’re gaining some weight, you’re training hard and you’re losing it.
Thomas was a fit and slim model during his AFL playing days for Carlton and Collingwood
No surprises if you put on the best part of 12-13 kilos that something needs to change and for a lot of us through Covid it’s been about eating your feelings – I’d definitely do that.
The only time I ever gained weight was after playing a professional sport. Training often over the course of weeks and over the years has never been a real problem.
“From what you considered unfit or not at peak performance (when you’re a professional athlete) and then to what it looks like now after your career, it’s so different.”
Thomas flexes his punches before taking part in a fitness and metabolism reset challenge to shed the pounds
Thomas also participated in a grueling 45-day fitness challenge he described as ISO 2.0 which helped him reach his goal.
You have given me a new lease on life. (I) managed to drop some kilos and (get back) to really enjoying some of the things I wasn’t able to do while at my heaviest – run, be active, and enjoy myself.
I suppose I will be much older than I am now. I still have probably four to five kilos to get back to my playing weight.